Renovations to be ready for Nov. 11 ceremony

The refurbished National War Memorial will be unwrapped on Nov. 4, one week before the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies.

Public Services and Procurement Canada confirmed Friday that the renovation work is on time and the memorial will be ready for the Nov. 11 ceremony.

The memorial and surrounding square on Elgin Street have been fenced off since early April, when workers began a sevenmonth, $3.2-million project to fix damaged concrete slabs and paving on the 77-year-old cenotaph.

The work is the second phase of renovations that began in 2014, when the monument was closed to the public for months while workers did $3 million worth of repairs to the concrete and reinforcing steel in a crawl space underneath.

The National War Memorial was officially dedicated in 1939 by King George VI and was to commemorate Canadian sacrifice in the First World War.

It has since been rededicated to include the Second World War, Korea and the war in Afghanistan.